An error occurred while trying to start the Windows deployment services error 0x906

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is a Microsoft tool for deploying Windows Operating System (OS) over the network. In Windows Server 2003 it was referred to as Remote Installation Services (RIS). In this article, we shall discuss the steps to fix “An error occurred while trying to start the Windows deployment services error 0x906”. Please see the differences between MDT and WDS, and how to deploy images to computers or virtual machines using WDS.

The purpose of WDS is to remotely deploy the Windows operating system. WDS uses a PXE method for booting clients. PXE enables clients to boot off the network. To find WDS services and to load boot images, the client should be able to contact the WDS server, and the client network card must be PXE compliant and most devices are NICs compliant.

See this guide on how to set up and install the WDS role, how to configure Windows Deployment Services on Windows Server 2019, and how to configure DHCP Server option 60, 66, and 67 for Windows Deployment Services.

Why was Windows deployment services error 0x906 prompted?

You have recently set up the WDS server role as described only.

When you try to start the WDS service, you will be prompted with the following error “An error occurred while trying to start the Windows deployment services error information 0x906” as shown below.

Even when you try to restart the WDS from the services.msc console, you will NEVER be able to start the service.

This is because the Windows deployment server has not been configured.

Solution

To fix this, we will have to configure Windows Deployment Services. Kindly follow the steps discussed below.

There are various ways to get to the WDS snap-in console. Open the WDS snap-in console by launching the Server Manager. Click on Tools and then select Windows Deployment Services.

Alternatively, click on WDS as shown below, on the available server, right click and select Windows Deployment Services Management Console

This will launch the Windows Deployment Services console as shown below. As you can see the server is currently not configured.

Configure WDS Server

To have the server configured, right-click on the server name (in my case, TechDarchive.techdirect.local). Click on configure the server.

This will open up the Windows Deployment Services Configuration Wizard as shown below. Read and ensure you are complying with the requirements to setup WDS. Click on Next

Integrate with Active Directory

Click on next to continue. On the Install Options page, verify that you choose  Integrated with Active Directory and then click Next.

Click on Next. On the Remote Installation Folder Location page, you can accept the default location which is C:\RemoteInstall and then click Next

Note: If you do not want to have your boot images, install and PXE boot files etc saved to this location, click on browse and select your desired location. 

Since this is in a test environment, I will leave it this way. Ensure you select a different partition for a production environment.

Click on Next. This will prompt the “System Volume Warning dialog window”, and click Yes.

Usually, if you have a DHCP server server, you will be prompted to configure the Proxy DHCP Server. But we currently do not have a DHCP server set up in this LAB.

Next, you will be prompted to configure the PXE Server Initial Settings. On the PXE Server Initial Settings window.

Click Respond to all client computers (known and unknown), and click on Next, please wait for a few seconds for the process to complete.

This will start the WDS configuration as shown below.

“Remember to uncheck the “Add Image” to the server now if this is currently not what you want to do. When complete, click on Finish.

From the first image below, the start button is grayed out because the service is currently running. Also

That is all that is needed to configure WDS and have the service running as shown below.

I hope you found this blog post on how to fix “An error occurred while trying to start the Windows deployment services error 0x906” helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.